About INVERSO

Inverso Productions was founded in 2012 in Spain by choreographer Lesley Telford, who leads the company with equal dedication to artistic innovation and community engagement. Since becoming a registered non-profit society in Vancouver, BC, on unceded Coast Salish territory in 2017, Inverso has become an established professional contemporary dance company committed to concept-driven, interdisciplinary creation and intergenerational practice.  Collaborating with visual arts, literature, theatre, film, music, and science, the company creates and shares work that situates dance within a broader cultural and social landscape.

Inverso has produced four full-length works: Brittle Failure (touring Spain, the Netherlands, and Canada), Spooky Action, Gem-like, and our seminal intergenerational work, Borrowed Time. Our creations have been presented nationally and internationally at major festivals and venues across Europe and Canada, reflecting a sustained professional trajectory and international recognition. Inverso has been presented in the CaDance Festival and Korzo Theatre in the Netherlands, International Festival Madrid en Danza, the Network of Alternative Theatres and the Reina Sophia Museum in Spain, the Gothenburg Dance and Theatre Festival, the Schmiede Festival in Austria, and in Canada at the Chutzpah Festival, the Banff Festival of the Arts, EDAM Choreographic Series, the Fluid Festival in Calgary, the Dancing on the Edge Festival, Dance in Vancouver, the Vancouver International Dance Festival and Dance Victoria.

Intergenerational practice is central to Inverso’s artistic vision. We intentionally work across the lifespan, creating a continuum that brings emerging artists, established professionals, and older adults into meaningful creative exchange. The LIFT Festival (launched in 2025) is a cornerstone of this commitment—an intergenerational platform of performances, workshops, and panels that brings artists and community members of different ages together in shared dialogue and embodied experience. This ethos continues through the Performance Research Project, a creation-based mentorship project to support artists in their career path including workshops, mentorship, and collaborations with senior movement artists.  Our community initiatives further extend this work. We offer outreach performances in care homes, OPEN intergenerational movement classes for all, a summer Intensive co-presented with SFU School of Contemporary Arts and a new class in collaboration with Dance With Parkinson’s and BC Brain Wellness at UBC.

Through this layered approach, from emerging artists to professionals to older community dancers, Inverso strengthens artistic innovation while cultivating connection, creativity, and a culture of care across generations. 

​We are grateful for past and present project support from the City of Vancouver, BC Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts and our generous private donors.

Artistic Team
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Executive Artistic Director

photo by Maxim Shapovalov

Lesley Telford

Lesley is a choreographer and the Artistic Director of Inverso Productions. She is grateful to live and work on the unceded and ancestral territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh people. Through Lesley’s choreographic work she explores the physicality and spatial structures of emotional states at the intersection of dance, the visual arts, text and film. Her work has been described as having “a profound way of tapping into very deep recesses of our emotional and intellectual landscapes”. She founded Inverso Productions in 2012 to experiment with other art forms and ways of creating dance.
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She has created commissions for Ballett Am Rhein, Ballett Bern, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Netherlands Dans Theater 1, Hubbard Street Dance Company 2, Compañia Nacional de Danza 2, Ballet Vorpommern, and three works for Ballet BC, among others. 

As an educator and mentor, she has a long-standing commitment in support of emerging dance artists. To further this purpose Inverso has developed outreach and professional platforms to provide valuable opportunities and experience. She has taught internationally in many companies and schools.

Lesley finished her studies in Montreal at L´École Supérieur de Danse du Québec before joining the company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. She went on to dance with Nacho Duato´s Compañia Nacional de Danza in Madrid, Spain and Netherlands Dans Theater 1.  She has a Master of Arts in Cultural Production from the University of Salzburg and the Mozarteum. 

Production Assistant

photo by Josh Stasik Prince

Natalia Martineau

Natalia Martineau (she/her)  is an emerging dance artist and choreographer based in Vancouver, on the unceded Coast Salish territories of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. .Her practice investigates how textile and sensation can dialogue to reveal inarticulable truths about identity through movement. 

Natalia has danced in projects with Vanessa Goodman (Action at a Distance), Shion Skye-Carter, Margarida Macieira, and Alexandra Caprara. Her work has been presented at the Dance Centre as part of their 12 Minutes Max and DanceLab residencies, and at Decidedly Jazz Danceworks as part of their DJD Dance Centre Creative Residency Program. She holds a BFA in Contemporary Dance (Hons) from Simon Fraser University and is grateful to have participated in EDAM’s Fall 2023 Training Scholarship Program.

She is working as Inverso's Production Assistant and for New Works as a Communications Coordinator.

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Artistic Advisor

photo by Chris Randle

Heather Myers

Heather is a mother, dance artist, and arts facilitator. She received her training at the National Ballet School and The Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and danced with Alberta Ballet, Boston Ballet, and Nederlands Dans Theater 1. As a company dancer, and later, as an independent artist she has worked with artists including Crystal Pite, Ohad Naharin, Jiri Kylian, Medhi Walerski, Lucinda Childs, Ivan Perez, Marina Mascarell, and Lesley Telford. Heather received the Clifford E. Lee Award for choreography in 2009 and has worked as a commissioned choreographer and instructor of technique and creative process locally and internationally. While living in Holland, Heather organized community-based interdisciplinary improv sessions as part of her work on NDT’s SWITCH committee, and later initiated dance exchange/workshops during personal travel in Indonesia and India.

Most interested in questions around creative process, context, and the social relevance of artistic intelligence, Heather now enjoys supporting the evolution and delivery of other people's work. Pursuing these interests, Heather is currently completing The Tamalpa Institute's Teacher Training Program in Life/Art processes and Somatic Movement Education, and recently completed an Arts Management program at Capilano University which included practicum work with The PuSh Festival, The Roundhouse, and Plastic Orchid Factory. She has also studied Contemporary Arts at SFU, and studied with Ruth Little and Liz Lerman in Banff, among others. Thanks to the trust and generosity of her community, Heather now collaborates with various artists and organizations as an instructor, rehearsal director, creative advisor, interpreter, writer, and production assistant. She lives in Burnaby, BC, on unceded Central Coast Salish Territory.

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Board of Directors

Vice-Chair

photo by

SAlly-Ann Ambrosio

Vice Chair

​Sally-Ann is a district school psychologist in Surrey Schools with more than twenty years of experience working with children and families. While her work spans both elementary and secondary settings, much of Sally-Ann’s work is focussed on alternate education and youth at risk who face multiple barriers. She has seen how dance can be transformative for these students and across the lifespan.
Sally-Ann grew up in and around the performing arts and first met Lesley Telford in ballet class at the Betty Cross School of Dance when they were children. She has followed Lesley’s work and trajectory through the dance world ever since.
An enthusiast patron of the arts, Sally-Ann has been a dedicated season ticket holder at the Arts Club and consistently supports local arts and dance organizations. Sally-Ann continues to champion the work of Inverso Productions and is a proud member of its Board.

Secretary

photo by Drew Barry

Samantha Sutherland

Secretary
Samantha Sutherland is a contemporary dance artist, choreographer, and teacher based in Tkaronto. Her ancestry is Ktunaxa and Scottish. She grew up on Coast Salish territory and graduated from the Arts Umbrella Dance Diploma Program in 2018.
Samantha began choreographing dance solo works in 2021 and has presented in festivals across Turtle Island. Some include the Matriarchs Uprising Festival, Sharing the Stage with The National Ballet of Canada, Dance Made in Canada, SummerWorks, and Weesageechak Begins to Dance. Samantha premiered her first ensemble dance work naⱡa at Citadel Spring Mix in Toronto, and later presented the work in Vancouver at the Matriarchs Uprising Festival. She has performed in dance works by Raven Spirit Dance, Santee Smith, Olivia C. Davies, Alejandro Ronceria, and Jera Wolfe. She is currently on faculty at The Centre for Indigenous Theatre, and an Artistic Associate with O.Dela Arts.

Vice-Chair/ TReasurer

Peter Belanger

​Treasurer, Chair

Dance Artists

Ariana Barr

Raised in Victoria BC, Ariana has nurtured her love of dance and expression since the age of six. With the unwavering support of her family, she has developed her practice from early days in the living room, to collaborative spaces and stages across Canada. Ariana’s formal training began at the Pacific Dance Center and continued through the Arts Umbrella Graduate Program and Performance Research Project. In addition to performing with Ballet Edmonton for six seasons under the artistic direction of Wen Wei Wang, Ariana has also worked with several Vancouver-based companies including Inverso Productions, Vision Impure, Belle Spirale, Rachel Meyers, Wen Wei Dance and Joshua Beamish/MOVETHECOMPANY. In 2023, Ariana was honored to receive the Edmonton Artist’s Trust Fund Award for her contributions to the Edmonton arts community. Ariana now lives and dances as a guest on the traditional, unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples. She is deeply grateful to spend her life being shaped, continuously, both by the people she works with and by the transformative power of movement itself. ​

Shana 愛 ​Wolfe

Shana 愛 Wolfe is a Japanese-Canadian freelance dance artist based in Vancouver, on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. She has collaborated with local companies including Company 605, OURO Collective, and Inverso Productions, as well as independent artists such as Cindy Mochizuki, Raven Grenier, and Anya Saugstad. Thanks to these amazing artists, she’s had the privilege to perform at festivals such as Dancing on the Edge, Vines Art Festival, Guelph Dance Festival, Dance Deck, Dance in Vancouver, and Coastal Dance Festival. Internationally, she has performed at Sadler’s Wells (UK), the Autostadt Theatre in Wolfsburg, and the Tanzbiennale in Heidelberg, Germany. Shana is currently pursuing a Kinesiology diploma at Langara College.

Calder wHite

​Calder White (he/him) is a freelance dance artist based on the unceded and Ancestral lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. He pulls heavily from his training in Limón modern, Bartenieff Fundamentals, and Countertechnique to inform his teachings of weight, fall and suspension, and compartmentalization of the body. Calder has shared his workshops with institutions across North America, including at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre, UC Santa Barbara, Yukon Contemporary Training Community, Training Society of Vancouver, and the Ohio State University. When he isn't teaching, Calder choreographs his own work and is a company member with Shay Kuebler/Radical System Art, Josh Beamish/MOVE the company, and Santa Barbara Dance Theater.

photo by David Cooper

CLAUDIA MOORE

Performer, teacher, mentor and founding Artistic Director of Moonhorse Dance Theatre (MDT), Moore has been a force on the Canadian dance scene since the late 70’s. She trained at the National Ballet School and performed with the National Ballet of Canada, before moving into contemporary dance as a featured performer with the Toronto Dance Theatre and the Desrosiers Dance Theatre. Claudia founded Moonhorse Dance Theatre (MDT) in 1996, as a home for her dance projects. In 2000 she established MDT's Older & Reckless, the performance series renowned for its celebration of mature dance artists who have followed their passion over a lifetime. One of Canada’s most revered contemporary dancers, Claudia pursues her passion as an interpreter in commissioned works by acclaimed creators including Carol Anderson, Peter Chin, Lina Cruz, James Kudelka and the late Tedd Robinson. Claudia has received the Jacqueline Lemieux award for excellence in dance. Now a resident of BC, Claudia serves as the Dance West Network Community Dance Connector for Kelowna, and is honoured to continue sharing her lifelong dance passion in classes, performances and community projects for the Rotary Centre for the Arts, Ballet Kelowna, Centre Culturel Francophone d'Okanagan and Creative Okanagan.

photo by David Cooper

Yuha Tomita

Photo by David Cooper

Emma Galvin

Savannah Walling

and...
​Kerstin Luettich
​Barbara Karmazyn
​Eowynn Enquist
Isak Enquist
​Ysadora Dias

​Past Collaborators:
Steph Cyr
​Kiera Hill
Eden Solomon
Brandon Alley
Anya Saugstad
​Lucas Wilson-Bilbro
Daria Mikhaylyuk
Marisa Gold
Justin Calvadores

Team

Don Leiblich/ Accountant

collaborators

Barbara Adler, Writer/ Dramaturge
​James Meger/ Composer
Irene Weng/ Lighting and Technical Direction
David Cooper/ Photographer, Videographer
​Andrew Mackenzie/Video Editor
Yoko Seyama/ Scenography
Alan Brodie/ Lighting

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Inverso now has charitable status!

MAKE A DONATION

Please consider a donation and receive a charitable receipt! Whatever you wish to contribute will help us with some very exciting new developments. It is because of the investment of individuals such as yourself that we are able to present original, challenging work that we are proud to share and serve as a support system for emerging artists. As Inverso Productions, we are thrilled to be active artists in this community and we are grateful to have your support along this path.